Well, the year certainly had its ups and downs. Michigan doesn't do quiet seasons. Let's remember what happened on the field and then talk about the Sherrone Moore of it all, because YEAH. That happened.
What were the expectations?
Transient Buckeye: Michigan was not good in 2024 (and yes, I DO remember that they beat Ohio State anyway, and thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject--while you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?). But they ended the year on a real high note, winning The Game, and then knocking off Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Which is, apparently, a real thing. They'd also signed uber-recruit Bryce Underwood to fill the gaping void at quarterback that had been the 2024 team's Achilles' Heel. Freshmen are gonna freshman, of course, and the Wolverines weren't seen as serious Big Ten Title contenders. But if everything broke right, and if Underwood played up to his recruiting ranking, they might've been able to sneak in as a fringe CFP team in the expanded 12-team format.
Kind of...: Michigan had been through a LOT off the field in the 18-24 months leading up to the 2025 campaign. The expectations were that the Wolverines would be pretty good with a bright future as long as Bryce Underwood and Sherrone Moore each showed signs of development in their crucial respective roles.
WSR: I think the expectations were roughly 2-3 losses and somewhere around the edge of the playoffs. They had a wildly favorable schedule, but a freshman QB. As long as the defense did their job and the OL was decent-ish, they'd be fine.
So, how'd it go?
Transient Buckeye: Record-wise, Michigan was improved, going from 8-5 in 2024 to 9-4 in 2025. Their defense wasn't elite, but they were pretty solid for most of the year, their running game was operating at the typical late-Harbaugh/Moore standard, and the passing game was....let's call it "intermittent." Bryce Underwood was very hot and cold, clearly showing flashes of his five-star talent and elite athleticism, but also looking very much like a freshman quarterback for lengthy stretches. It doesn't feel like it in hindsight, but Michigan faced Ohio State with the Big Ten title game and a CFP berth still very much within their grasp. That game didn't go Michigan's way, as Ohio State finally managed to shake the monkey off their backs. With a 9-3 regular season in the books, Michigan settled in to calmly prepare for their bowl game and the 2026 season, and absolutely nothing of note happened after that...
Kind of...: I'm pretty sure if you took the money line favorite in every Michigan game last year you would've gone undefeated. And, most weeks, you wouldn't have been nervous in the second half. Michigan had two or three one-score games where they leaned heavily on the defense, including a win over Northwestern that probably should've been a loss. But being 9-2/7-1 heading into "the Game" meant that a CFP spot was there for the taking if they could pull the upset. Nobody was turning that scenario down when the season kicked off.
WSR: Roughly where I thought they'd be, but a very adventurous way of getting there. I mean, can we watch the highlights of that Northwestern game again?
What were the highlights?
Transient Buckeye: Look. I'm an Ohio State fan. This is going to sound petulant. But 2025 Michigan was a 7-5 team that got to 9-3 in the regular season largely because they drew about the weakest and most favorable schedule that a Big Ten team could've gotten. Michigan played 3 ranked teams all season--Oklahoma in the non-conference (and yes, in this era, Michigan deserves credit for scheduling and playing that game), and USC and Ohio State in conference play. They lost to all of them. They did go into Lincoln and beat a then-undefeated Nebraska team. Their best win was a victory over Road Washington, who they handled decisively. They also went on the road and beat their hated rivals from East Lansing. In their bowl matchup with Texas, a contest in which they were clearly overmatched, they managed to keep the game surprisingly competitive well into the second half, with the Longhorns only putting them away in the fourth quarter.
MaximumSam: Personally, seeing Michigan's head football coach appearing for his preliminary hearing from a jail cell was a major highlight. Really one for the record books.
Kind of...: Transient Buckeye is an Ohio State fan, but he's 100% right. Michigan had, by a clear margin, the easiest B1G schedule last year. So, yeah, they didn't have any embarrassing losses. But there are no wins of note either. When road Washington is your best win, the profile is pretty thin.
WSR: They beat a pretty shitty Nebraska team that was somehow ranked by 3. So they've got that going for them.
And the lowlights?
Transient Buckeye: Michigan's lowlights came not so much in their losses (which all came against teams that were better than they were), but rather in their wins. In a three-game stretch across late October and early November, they beat a dreadful MSU team by 11 (though this was a road win, so partial credit for that). They then very nearly got Harbored by 2025 Purdue--at home, no less. The following week, they went to Wrigley Field and tried in about a hundred different ways to hand the game to Northwestern, only for the Wildcats to stubbornly refuse to accept the gifts they were being offered. Having one narrow win against a bad team is excusable--that happens to most teams, you're going to come out flat at least once or twice a season. Having three such games back-to-back-to-back is not good, and is the main evidence for my hypothesis that Michigan's 9-4 record last season was very much inflated by their schedule.
Kind of...: It would've been bad to lose to Northwestern, but there's actually a sort of accomplishment to winning ANY game where you're -5 in turnover margin, so, really, as far as lowlights go, you're going to have to look off the field.
WSR: So do we talk about Sherrone here? I think it could be covered in every part, depending on your feelings on Michigan.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Transient Buckeye: I mean, do I really need to do this?
Of course not. But it'll be fun, so let's do it anyway. When you have been handed one of the premiere jobs in your field--a job that many people, including a non-zero percentage of your own fanbase, believe you should not have been given (at least not at this point in your career), you should not do anything to endanger that position. You should not, just to pick a couple of things completely at random, carry on an extramarital affair with one of your direct reports, or follow a bunch of OnlyFans models on your PERSONAL social media account with your REAL NAME on it. I don't know what Sherrone Moore's buyout was when Michigan cut its ties with him, but the university should've paid it in full and with a smile on their faces. Moore's indiscretions are probably going to go down in history as the greatest service he possibly could've performed for the football program. By handing them a gift-wrapped excuse to fire him for cause, Michigan was able to fall ass-backward into Kyle Whittingham. Who will very likely turn out to be exactly what they needed. Lucky bastards.
Kind of...: Back in the 80s and early 90s, Michigan-Notre Dame was one of the better rivalries in college football. Certainly a bigger deal than USC-Notre Dame. Bo Schembechler would rage against the "luck of the Irish" angle and then a walk-on for Notre Dame would drill four FGs (1988). Of course, I guess it is a kind of "luck" to have the opponent kick off to the best return man in CFB history even after he already took one to the house in that very game (1989). Anyway, part of what made it a great rivalry is that it was a showdown of two of the smuggest, most self-righteous fanbases in the sport. It was the ultimate "well, somebody is going to lose, so that's great" rivalry.
Most of us had a lot of fun with the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame. Lou Holtz may have gotten admission standards lowered, but it really was Kelly who detonated a lot of what Domers could cling to in terms of "we hold ourselves to higher standards." Midway through Kelly's tenure, all but the most myopic Notre Dame fans (okay, that's most of them) had to concede the gig was up in terms of being the little engine that could.
With a lag of a few years, Jim Harbaugh did the same in Ann Arbor. Satellite camps, COVID recruiting hijinks, and Connor Stalions really dismantled any claim to a "Michigan man" being anything other than "public school grad with trust fund attitude."
I guess I didn't really have to bring Notre Dame into the answer here, except I just can't get over the fact that Marcus Freeman is less than a month older than Sherrone Moore.
WSR: Michigan football: We're all about cheating in every way possible.
